Abbreviations and Acronyms

Institutions that deal with district planning are mentioned in the sections above: Ministries of Planning and Finance, Territorial Administration, Public Works and Housing, Environmental Coordination, Agriculture (through DTA). There is no doubt that all services need institutional strengthening.

A number of NGOs are providing support to the GoM in handling district planning. SNV is taking on a leading role in Nampula province. It provides services and capacity-building to Local and Community Development Commissions (CDL, CDC) as well as to District Consultative Councils (CCD). There is no doubt that these local bodies will require specific attention for taking up their role in future district and local level planning. Both CDL/CDC and CCD are institutions that were formalised as a follow up to new laws for local government bodies.

5.5 Land Information Management System –LIMS

The DNTF has for some time been developing a new web-based information system, the Land Information Management System (LIMS). The LIMS, when fully operational, will provide a framework for the storage and manipulation of a variety of landbased information. Eventually it could include the incorporation of all spatial data from a variety of government departments, including the cadastre, mining rights, land and soil resources, potential hazards, environmental information, and tourism and wildlife concessions.

The LIMS has various components: •an Oracle database for housing data (both attribute data and spatial data): this database is centralised and thus eliminates the need for replication and maintenance of local databases in each province; •a web application which allows user access to various components of the LIMS via the Internet or intranet (Govnet); •enterprise Geographic Information System (GIS) components to support the spatial aspect of land information. The GIS is tightly integrated with the attribute data. Components used are sourced from

ESRI (the industry standard in enterprise GIS).

Included is an Internet map server (ArcIMS), a spatial database engine (ArcSDE) residing in the central

Oracle database, various custom GIS components specific to LIMS, and desktop GIS (ArcGIS) in support of the capture and manipulation of spatial data.

The aim of the LIMS is to serve as a portal; that is, it will be the single point of entry to all land-based information in the country. This information should be accessible via the Internet using a normal browser (implementation will therefore be fully compliant with Internet protocols). Once the necessary policies of data protection and privacy are in place, there will probably be much broader public access to this information.

The heart of the LIMS is, at present, the cadastral, parcel-based information regarding land rights; that is, the DUATs that have been awarded or those that have been acquired and registered. An important step towards the implementation of an effective and modernized cadastral system will be the digitization of the national land cadastre information as it presently stands. In Mozambique, this implies the acquisition of backlog data (manual digitization) into the system, i.e. approximately 30 000 paper folders. Each folder – related to a land parcel – contains a ‘summary’ of two to three pages, blueprints, maps, deeds and other documents (for a total page count ranging from 60 to 100). Although this is a considerable task, it will mean that important information will be safeguarded from the kind of disastrous losses that occurred in Xai–Xai in 2000.

A previous initiative, the Land Licensing and Planning System for Beira City, shows the potential that this kind of tool holds for increasing the efficiency and transparency of land allocations. In 2003 the Beira Executive Council (the local government authority for the city of Beira in Mozambique)initiated development of a decision support system, with a simple geographic information system interface. Operationally the computerised application was intended to speed up decision-making, by automating the processing of the majority of licence requests and revocations, leaving the Planning Department to concentrate on the few that warranted detailed consideration and negotiation. The application triggered warning letters and licence withdrawal notices where legislation and regulations were not being applied. For strategic land-use planning, the application provided planners in Beira with information on land-use and trends, enabling them to better predict the future and match developers with suitable plots. It is not difficult to envisage how a similar tool could assist planners in rural areas and provide the spatial element needed for existing decentralised development and disaster mitigation planning initiatives.

Previously, the Land Registry had consisted of an incomplete and inconsistent paper-based collection of dusty volumes detailing plot usage dating back over a century, much like in the majority of the SPGC offices. No definitive map existed; some showed groups of plots with duplicate or non-contiguous numbering systems, and plots overlaying others shown on different maps. Linking plots on the maps with the information in the Registry was sometimes difficult, providing insufficient information both for routine licences and long-term strategic planning. Digitising the maps and computerising the Registry is an effective way of updating the system, speeding it up and providing better quality information.

Potential uses of the LIMS include: •the completion of internal land administration and land management responsibilities within the national directorate and its provincial offices, by cross-checking and validating all land rights registration applications; •inter- and intra-governmental administration and management of land and other natural resources, through cross-checking and validating all concessions (land, forestry and wildlife, water resources, mineral resources, etc.); •inter- and intra-governmental natural resources planning and management activities; •provision of a consistent database regarding utilization of land and other natural resources for all users.

The staff of the newly-established DNTF, and especially all the staff from the 10 provinces, require training in the use and handling of the LIMS. It is also obvious that all potential public and private sector users mentioned above under potential uses will need some basic training on how data can be retrieved and used.

5.6 Simplified land registers and bringing these in line with existing legislation

Where registration in rural areas has been attempted using standard procedures according to the received colonial law, the process of registration is usually incomplete. In Sudan, which enacted a Land Registration and Settlement Act in 1925, most of the country is still unregistered. In Uganda, the Registration of Titles Act providing for land registration was passed in 1922, yet only about 12 percent of the land has so far been brought under the Act. In Kenya, where land adjudication and registration started in 1956, there have been programmes of adjudication and registration ever since, yet the process has still not covered more than 10 percent of the country. Many titles lie uncollected in the land offices because the owners are unable to pay the fees or travel costs involved. In such circumstances, the system breaks down because rights are transferred without the transactions being registered. The result is that listed owners in the register (the ‘legal’ owners) are not necessarily the real owners of the land.

In recent years, however, in response to increased pressure on land, many countries are pushing ahead with land registration to strengthen the land claims of poor people in rural and urban areas. A range of innovative, low-cost mechanisms are being developed to survey and document land rights and transactions. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED, 2005) has recently published studies of such work in rural and urban areas in Mozambique, Ethiopia and Ghana. The conclusion from one of these reports is given in Box 2.

The recent experience of Tanzania in the registration of rural land is relevant to Mozambique, as are the experiences of an MCC-supported project in Madagascar and the DfID Land Tenure Reform project in Rwanda. However, every country and possibly every district, is likely to be a special case and it will be necessary to adapt systems to meet the needs and capacities of local people when implementing the first registration of informal rights. It is clear that, if the systematic recording of land rights in rural

BOX 2 – MODELS OF REGISTRATION AND INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING

There are limitations to] those approaches that assume that ‘legal empowerment of the poor’ may be promoted simply by providing land titles. In reality, different models of land registration exist, local contexts may vary substantially, and overlapping rights on the same piece of land may coexist. Therefore the real issue is not embracing readily-available solutions based on Western models, but learning how to design land registration systems that secure the land rights of poorer marginalised groups in specific geographic and historical contexts. In addition, whether land titles or other registration documents improve land tenure security of local land users depends on the existence of strong local institutions that are able to uphold and defend the rights embodied in those documents. Building the capacity of local institutions over time is therefore a key challenge.

Source: IIED Research Report 1: Can Land Registration Serve Poor and Marginalised Groups, November 2005, p.27.

Mozambique is to be viable, the process must be simple, inexpensive and capable of being delivered by local government structures.

Clear principles are evident from these conclusions: •The procedures leading up to the recording of land rights (e.g. adjudication of rights) must be carried out by local people. •The land records must be stored locally. •The survey and mapping procedures that enable the land rights to be recorded must also be simple. •The content of the land rights, including overlapping rights, should not fundamentally change as a result of recording.

Factors that will determine whether the process of rural registration is equitable include: •whether the registration process is be carried out systematically and witnessed by the community; •whether the fee (the premium and/or rent levied on registration) is nominal and affordable; •whether assistance is provided so that the poorest can access and participate in the system; •whether the rights of family members, secondary right-holders, vulnerable groups etc., are recognized and recorded.

In a step towards meeting the requirements of a modern cadastre, it may be necessary for the government to survey broad boundaries using GPS equipment (perhaps at the level of a ‘local community’ as defined in the law), thus creating a series of ‘outer figures’ within which individual land rights could be recorded using ‘uncontrolled’ survey methods. 5.7 Alternative conflict management –integrating training, capacity building and legal reform

The GoM has established an Inter-Ministerial Commission for Legal Reform (CIREL), whose mandate includes a revision of the judicial system in the country. The resulting policy and legal framework for the judiciary – including local courts – should be a genuinely Mozambican response to a reality where ‘justice’ for most citizens is delivered mainly through informal local systems, with formal courts playing a role in relatively few cases.

The tool of building a strong link to local level conflict resolution mechanisms and ensuring that there is a clear ‘interface’ with the formal system is an effective one in the Mozambican context, which has a history of community courts. These Courts were established in 1978 and were originally formally integrated into the overall national court structure. In 1990, with the emergence of an independent judiciary as part of new post-war constitutional arrangements, they were separated from the ‘formal’ and newly professional judicial system and judges. They continued to function, but without detailed regulations concerning, for example, who should serve on them and what weight their decisions had in the wider legal and judicial arena.

Measures to consolidate and expand the Community Courts constitute one of the principal activities that are foreseen in the area of justice. Moreover, ‘environment’ is identified as an important governance issue, while secure

©FAO/J. Spaull

land rights for the poor are also featured among conditions for combating poverty. The effective implementation of legislation related to land, natural resources and the environment is therefore central to the GoM poverty reduction strategy; this requires effective mechanisms at local level as well as higher up in the formal judicial system. Having legitimate and adequately-trained community judges and other local conflict resolution specialists is an essential part of the overall implementation package for land and natural resources legislation, and can play a significant role in assisting with any post-disaster conflicts. The Land Law, for example, already integrates customary and formal land access and management systems into a single, Mozambican law. Customary practices and local land management institutions are formally recognized and given due place in the law.

The Legal and Judicial Training Centre (CFJJ) has, over the last few years, been implementing a training programme (directed at a range of actors from state and non-state institutions) in paralegal and other skills related to land issues, conflicts and disputes. In addition to the inclusion of alternative dispute-resolution mechanisms in its core training programme for the members of the judiciary, the CFJJ holds seminars at district level for officers from different state institutions, including district administrators, police chiefs, prosecutors and other state officers. These seminars also involve a focus on alternative dispute resolution, with an emphasis on how people at this level can work together to resolve conflict without resorting to the judicial system. In addition, the CFJJ has also been implementing a programme of local level seminars aimed more at paralegals, lower-level state officers, and traditional leaders and community members. These focus on land and natural resource legislation and also contain modules related to conflict resolution. The CFJJ is currently working on the production of two training manuals to accompany these courses; one is for the district officer seminars and the other is for the paralegal training course. These should be published and available for other training institutions to use within the next few months. 5.8 Information on land rights: the campaign approach

One of the effective tools used in Mozambique in the past was the Land Campaign, which was conceived during the debate preparing for the new Land Law during the late 1990s. In that period certain NGOs, churches and academics met on various occasions to discuss the drafts of the Law and to establish a common platform for Mozambican civil society. Once the new Land Law was approved by the Government in 1997, these organizations decided it was appropriate to mount a campaign to publicise the law throughout the country.

The resulting Land Campaign (Campanha Terra) had three main goals: •to disseminate information about the new law; •to promote justice and defend citizens’ rights; •to stimulate the links between ‘family’ or subsistence agriculture and commercial agriculture.

The main themes on land rights were identified as the ‘delimitation’ of the boundaries of community land, women and land, partnerships between the family and enterprise sectors, urban land legislation, and conflict resolution.

Donors such as the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and MS (a Danish NGO) were particularly supportive in their roles. Dr. Jose Negrão of the University of Eduardo Mondlane was contracted to coordinate the initiative. What was initially thought of as a ‘dissemination campaign’ became, under his leadership, the ‘biggest civic movement’ in the recent history of Mozambique (Compete, 2000). The Land Campaign was particularly broad-based, bringing together about 200 organizations working at different levels - national, provincial and community - and with different political, religious and social affiliations. It extended to all provinces of the country. A National Committee was created, composed of 22 NGOs and international partners (Box 3). This structure allowed

BOX 3 – MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE LAND CAMPAIGN

Action Aid DANIDA AMRU – Association of Rural Women Netherlands Embassy Association for Progress FDC – Foundation for Community Development CAA – Oxfam Australia Helvetas CCM – Christian Council of Mozambique KEPA – Centre for Services of Cooperation for Development CEA – Centre for African Studies Kulima CEP – Centre for Population Studies MS – Danish Association for International Cooperation Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace NET – Land Studies Nucleus Swiss Cooperation ORAM – Rural Association for Mutual Help Oxfam Belgium Oxfam’s Joint Advocacy Programme Trocaire SNV – Dutch Organization for Development UNAC – National Union of Peasants